Tuesday 7 February 2012 13.14 EST
First published on Tuesday 7 February 2012 13.14 EST

The Arsenal winger Theo Walcott believes the team owed the manager, Arsène Wenger, a big performance to get their Premier League campaign back on track.

Arsenal defeated Blackburn Rovers 7-1 at the Emirates on Saturday – their first league win of 2012 – which took them to three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea after the Blues' 3-3 draw against Manchester United on Sunday.

Walcott feels it was about time Arsenal's players got it right after a frustrating spell in which they lost three successive league games and missed several chances in a stalemate at Bolton Wanderers. "The boss always takes a lot of stick from everyone criticising him, but us players need to look up to him because he's been taking it all," Walcott said. "We are the ones who go out there and put out the performances and sometimes they have not been good enough."

Walcott added: "There are so many world-class players in the dressing room, so it is disappointing when we come back from Bolton with a 0-0 draw where we had a lot of chances. It has just been one of those frustrating seasons. Hopefully a lot of those frustrations came out against Blackburn, where everybody stood up for themselves."

Walcott set up the opener for the captain, Robin van Persie, inside two minutes, then laid on a second for the Dutchman, who completed a hat-trick, before a mazy run ended with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scoring the fifth at the start of the second half. The performances of Oxlade-Chamberlain have led to calls for him to be fast-tracked into the senior England side for the friendly against Holland, although Walcott is wary of things moving too quickly.

The 22-year-old, who was a controversial selection for the 2006 World Cup when still a teenager, has often found himself criticised for a lack of end product – something against which his captain launched a fierce defence at the weekend. Walcott said: "One of my main jobs as a winger is to get assists. The goals are a secondary thing. Some of them against Blackburn were just tap-ins so it was like a goal really. I hope it made Robin's job easy."

Wenger did not make any major moves in the January transfer window, reflecting in an interview with a Belgian newspaper the importance of securing a "profit of between £15m and £20m" every season, and that the purpose of a coach is "to always buy at a price he sees fit".

One player who arrived last summer, Park Chu-young, has struggled to make an impact and the South Korean striker is now in danger of losing his place with the national team. The South Korea coach, Choi Kang-hee, was in Europe to scout some of his squad this past week and admitted it could be difficult to expect the 26-year-old – left on the bench against Blackburn – to be thrown straight in for the World Cup qualifier with Kuwait on 29 February.

"He has at least some positive thoughts, as he is with a world-class team like Arsenal, but he is not playing in games and I felt that Park is not on Wenger's mind," Choi was quoted as saying. "I have listed two or three players per position at this moment, but even if a player has great skills, he can't play in the match if he is not ready."